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Congressional Candidates Disagree About A Living Wage, Universal Health Coverage, and Nuclear Energy

Dan East, Ben Ray Lujan and Carol Miller answer questions from citizens in town hall forum

Rio Rancho, NM, October 16, 2008 --Northern New Mexico voters stepped up to ask their congressional candidates important questions about a wide range of issues – from No Child Left Behind to tribal health to the crisis in home foreclosures.

The televised debate came on the heels of a half-day town hall in which 20 northern New Mexico voters chose to focus primarily on four main subjects: healthcare, the economy, energy and education. Over the course of the afternoon, the group developed nearly 60 questions for candidates to address. Of those, about a dozen were answered on the air by the candidates. Candidates Ben Ray Lujan, Dan East, and Carol Miller were urged to address the remaining questions in other debates, in media interviews, and on their candidate websites.

The event, organized by New Mexico First and the New Mexico Public Broadcasters, was the second of three Congressional Town Halls taking place in each of the state’s congressional districts.

“Each of the citizens’ questions drove the candidates to engage each other on important policy questions that matter to real people,” said Heather Balas, president of New Mexico First.  “The candidates zeroed in on their many differences in a smart, civil way. As a result, voters benefitted from an exciting, educational debate.”

The event was broadcast on all three of the state’s public television stations and several public radio stations, reaching all corners of the state.

“This project is the broadest collaboration of public broadcasters in New Mexico’s history,” said Glen Cerny, broadcasting director of KRWG and executive producer of the three congressional forums. “We are proud to enable New Mexicans from Farmington to Jal – and all points between – to learn about the candidates.”

Upcoming Congressional Town Hall

  • Albuquerque Town Hall (1st Congressional District); candidates Martin Heinrich and Darren White; airs Thursday, October 23 at 7 pm

RIO RANCHO TOWN HALL QUESTIONS

 Healthcare

  1. How would you address the shortage of healthcare providers in our state? (including physicians, nurses, nurse practitioners, dentists, facilities)
  2. With respect to healthcare, what is your understanding of price elasticities of healthcare?
  3. What kind of system would you suggest for allowing veteran’s choice?
  4. Do you support a veteran’s right to go to any hospital in the country?
  5. What is your position on the legislation before congress on fully funding the VA system for physical and mental health?
  6. What can you suggest to modify the healthcare delivery system that would address its shortcomings (cost, access, patient directed care, and indigent care) today?
  7. What is your position regarding who provides payment for healthcare?  (Government, government guarantee for private providers, for-profit insurance companies)
  8. What role should insurance companies have in making medical decisions?
  9. How would you address rural and tribal healthcare needs in your district?
  10. How would you contain healthcare costs and improve quality?
  11. What can we learn from the healthcare delivery systems of other major industrial nations?
  12. What would you do to promote prevention and wellness in our healthcare system?
  13. What is your position on the possibility of renegotiating the current medicare pharmaceutical plan?

Economy

  1. How would you address our national debt?
  2. How would you address our economic challenges in our district?
  3. How do you define a living wage, and should the federal government be involved in setting it?
  4. How do you feel about multinational agreements such as NAFTA?
  5. What reforms should be made to Social Security to insure that it is viable for future generations?
  6. What is your position on a separate stimulus package, including the extension of unemployment, extension of credit to small businesses?
  7. How would you balance debt and monetary policies to maintain low inflation?
  8. What specifically would you do to improve the economic health of the middle class?
  9. Given the debt and financial pressures the nation is facing, what spending issues would you put aside or at a lower priority?
  10. What would you do to make government more efficient, including force reduction, customer focus, and better delivery of services?
  11. Explain how you would have our nation become a leader in developing renewable energy resources?
  12. With the foreclosure crisis, what are your plans to address the expansion of affordable, accessible rental housing, and/or keep people in their homes?
  13. Recently Nobel prize winning economist Joseph Steieglitz estimated the cost of the war in Iraq & Afghanistan to be $3 trillion. How does this affect your priorities in dealing with US economic problems?

Education

  1. What changes should be made to No Child Left Behind and it’s funding?  Do you support it? Why/why not?
  2. How would you attract and retain the best and brightest to enter the teaching profession? 
  3. What can the Federal Government do to address the educational inequality of rich and poor school districts nationwide?
  4. What is the Fed Government’s role in delivering K-12 education in the United States?
  5. What should be done to increase the number of students who major in science and math?
  6. How can we ensure that vocational technical education is provided to students who can benefit from them?
  7. Please explain whether or not you would agree to penalize higher education institutions who continue to increase tuition?
  8. Do you support plans like loan forgiveness or service for new teachers or what other plans do you have to bring in new teachers? 
  9. What is your position on parental choice options such as public school choice, charter schools, and/or vouchers?
  10. What would you do to provide sufficient funding for small schools in the 3rd District so they can provide quality education?
  11. How much emphasis should the Federal Government have on the state’s right to educate students?
  12. What is your opinion about involving parental responsibility for student behavior?
  13. What is your opinion regarding the Federal Government’s role for providing funds for school districts with high numbers of non-English speaking students?

 Energy

  1. How would you promote incentives for US companies to create renewable energy resources?
  2. How would you diversify NM’s economy to reduce our dependence on oil and gas revenues?
  3. What are your thoughts about protecting the overall US economy and NM economy from the uncontrolled high cost of energy?
  4. What will you do to help ensure that emerging energy technology is commercialized in a way to create jobs for New Mexicans?
  5. Discuss the linkages between our dependence on foreign oil, our national security and our economy?
  6. How would you change the current energy transmission grid to accommodate renewable energy generation?
  7. Most agree that “all of the above” are needed, but what energy sources will you focus on and support?
  8. When the auto companies ask for their bailouts, precisely how will you get them to move faster to greater fuel efficiency?
  9. Given our dependence on foreign energy sources, what foreign policy changes would you make to ensure that those resources will be there for us?
  10. With high energy costs and environmental issues, what are your plans to support and expand public transportation – nationally & locally?
  11. What will you do to prevent our potable water resources from being used in energy generation?
  12. To what extent would you support nuclear power for the country and New Mexico?
  13. The state of Texas drilled in Dona Ana County. How can we preserve the water in the Ute water basin and keep what belongs to us?
  14. What are your thoughts on offshore drilling and drilling in ANWR province?
  15. To what extent do you support the production of domestic oil and gas, particularly in New Mexico?
  16. What would you do to reduce our reliance on energy sources that produce pollutants that cause global warming and global dimming?
  17. What is your opinion on tribal sovereignty to generate power? (45% coal, 65% uranium are on tribal lands in US)